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Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children’s Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence

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Abstract

The benefits of an autonomy supportive environment have been established as a key component in children’s development at various ages. Nonetheless, research examining the outcomes of early autonomy supportive environments has largely neglected socio-emotional development. The first objective of the present longitudinal study was to examine the socio-emotional outcomes associated with maternal autonomy support during the preschool period. Second, we explored the contextual specificity of the relationships between maternal autonomy support and children’s later socio-emotional outcomes. Finally, we investigated the indirect effect of maternal autonomy support on children’s later socio-emotional outcomes through earlier children’s socio-emotional outcomes. Sixty-six mothers and their pre-school aged children (41 girls) were followed during preschool (Time 1), elementary school (Time 2) and preadolescence (Time 3). Maternal autonomy support (Time 1) was measured in two contexts (free-play and interference task) using observational coding. Furthermore, the children’s internalizing and externalizing problems as well as their social competence were measured at Times 2 and 3. The results revealed the importance of maternal autonomy support during preschool for children’s later socio-emotional development, especially during challenging contexts, and the mediating role of children’s socio-emotional outcomes during elementary school in the link between maternal autonomy support during the preschool years and children’s later socio-emotional outcomes during preadolescence. The results highlight the contextual specificity of the relationship between maternal autonomy support and children’s later socio-emotional development and reveal one of the mechanisms through which the effect of early childhood parental autonomy support on children’s later socio-emotional development is carried forward over time.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are most indebted to the families who participated in this study over the years. We gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support from the Fonds de Recherche Québecois sur la Société et la Culture (FRQ-SC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Centre for Research in Human Development (CRDH), Child and Youth Mental Health and Well-Being (Health Canada), and Concordia University for grants awarded to Dale M. Stack and Lisa A. Serbin, and FRQ-SC and Concordia University for post-doctoral fellowships awarded to Célia Matte-Gagné. We also thank Joelle Belisle-Cuillerier for help with the preparation of this manuscript, and Claude Senneville and the Concordia Project team for their assistance and their help at various points throughout the completion of this paper. The Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project was initiated in 1976 by Jane Ledingham and Alex Schwartzman.

Author contributions

C.M.G. conceptualized the study as a part of her postdoctoral work, conducted the literature review, coded autonomy support in 30 % of the sample for reliability testing, performed all statistical analyses, wrote and revised the manuscript; B.H. helped conceptualize the study as a part of her Master’s work, coded autonomy support in the entire sample, and participated in the writing, editing and revising of the manuscript; D.M.S. participated in the conceptualization of the present study, helped with the writing in both the original and revised versions of the paper in her role as supervisor, supervised the data collection and conceptualized, designed and implemented the larger study of which the present study is only a part (the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project); L.A.S. supervised the data collection and conceptualized, designed and implemented the larger study of which the present study is only a part. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. School of Psychology, Laval University, 2325 des Bibliothèques St., Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Célia Matte-Gagné

  2. Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Brenda Harvey, Dale M. Stack & Lisa A. Serbin

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  1. Célia Matte-Gagné
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Matte-Gagné, C., Harvey, B., Stack, D.M. et al. Contextual Specificity in the Relationship between Maternal Autonomy Support and Children’s Socio-emotional Development: A Longitudinal Study from Preschool to Preadolescence. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1528–1541 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0247-z

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